Published: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 at 1:19 p.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 at 6:28 p.m.

In the midst of his victory announcement in Wednesday’s Etowah County Spelling Bee, Gadsden Middle School’s Joshua Kelley made sure his recently defeated opponent — his brother, John — came to share the limelight with him at center stage at Southside High School.

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“It’s all about luck. He got a hard word and I got words I knew how to spell,” Joshua said. “I would support him if he would have won.”

The winning word was “meticulous,” which Joshua spelled with ease. He also had to deal with words such as dugong, maestro, cilantro and shrapnel. Joshua stood steadfast as each word came up, meticulously spelling out the words on the palm of his hand as he gathered his thoughts.

It took four rounds for more than half of the competition to disappear. By the eighth round, only the two Kelleys remained.

After the bee, Joshua was humble and praised the effort by his brother. The sixth-grader said the whole family is celebrating the victory, and that their family is very close.

The boys’ mother, Amy Kelley, was beaming afterward because of the way her sons acted when they were on stage.

“I’m very, very proud,” she said. “The thing I’m most proud of is the way they supported each other up there.”

Their support for each other was obvious from the beginning. The pair sat next to each other and each time one of them conquered another difficult word, the other would give a subtle thumbs-up as he returned to his seat.

A Kelley has won the spelling bee each of the last three years. Joshua also won two years ago and his older brother, Justin, won last year.

Joshua said practicing with and facing off against his brothers has enabled him to get to where he is today.

“I had to compete against my brother for the past two years,” he said. “That helped me, because he was a really good speller.”

Amy Kelley said her boys began competitive spelling because it plays to their strong suits.

“They’ve always been big readers, so that’s probably how they got started,” she said. “(They) figured out they had a knack for it and enjoyed doing it.”

Third place came down to head-to-head competition as well, with Coosa Christian School’s Tristan Brooks falling to Hokes Bluff Middle School’s Jessica McClain. The two had to face each other in a spell-off after they did not advance.

With the county title wrapped up, Joshua has his sights set on the Alabama Spelling Bee on March 9 at Oak Mountain High School. If he wins there, he will get a trip to Washington, D.C., to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Right now, Joshua isn’t concerned about D.C., or anything that far out. He’s just worried about studying and doing the best he can in March.

“We’ll have a good time in Birmingham,” he said. “It’s all about the journey, not about the destination.”

<p>In the midst of his victory announcement in Wednesday's Etowah County Spelling Bee, Gadsden Middle School's Joshua Kelley made sure his recently defeated opponent — his brother, John — came to share the limelight with him at center stage at Southside High School.</p><p>“It's all about luck. He got a hard word and I got words I knew how to spell,” Joshua said. “I would support him if he would have won.”</p><p>The winning word was “meticulous,” which Joshua spelled with ease. He also had to deal with words such as dugong, maestro, cilantro and shrapnel. Joshua stood steadfast as each word came up, meticulously spelling out the words on the palm of his hand as he gathered his thoughts.</p><p>It took four rounds for more than half of the competition to disappear. By the eighth round, only the two Kelleys remained.</p><p>After the bee, Joshua was humble and praised the effort by his brother. The sixth-grader said the whole family is celebrating the victory, and that their family is very close.</p><p>The boys' mother, Amy Kelley, was beaming afterward because of the way her sons acted when they were on stage.</p><p>“I'm very, very proud,” she said. “The thing I'm most proud of is the way they supported each other up there.”</p><p>Their support for each other was obvious from the beginning. The pair sat next to each other and each time one of them conquered another difficult word, the other would give a subtle thumbs-up as he returned to his seat.</p><p>A Kelley has won the spelling bee each of the last three years. Joshua also won two years ago and his older brother, Justin, won last year.</p><p>Joshua said practicing with and facing off against his brothers has enabled him to get to where he is today.</p><p>“I had to compete against my brother for the past two years,” he said. “That helped me, because he was a really good speller.”</p><p>Amy Kelley said her boys began competitive spelling because it plays to their strong suits.</p><p>“They've always been big readers, so that's probably how they got started,” she said. “(They) figured out they had a knack for it and enjoyed doing it.”</p><p>Third place came down to head-to-head competition as well, with Coosa Christian School's Tristan Brooks falling to Hokes Bluff Middle School's Jessica McClain. The two had to face each other in a spell-off after they did not advance.</p><p>With the county title wrapped up, Joshua has his sights set on the Alabama Spelling Bee on March 9 at Oak Mountain High School. If he wins there, he will get a trip to Washington, D.C., to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.</p><p>Right now, Joshua isn't concerned about D.C., or anything that far out. He's just worried about studying and doing the best he can in March.</p><p>“We'll have a good time in Birmingham,” he said. “It's all about the journey, not about the destination.”</p>